


crush gone wrong

by enbyofdionysus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 10:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17020974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyofdionysus/pseuds/enbyofdionysus
Summary: Percy felt watched. He turned his head, expecting to see Thalia’s Medusa-stare pinning him down, but instead, he caught the eyes of a very familiar frat brother in the heart of the hallway toward the kitchen.Percy nearly choked on his beer. It was Jason Grace.





	crush gone wrong

“This was a terrible idea,” Percy yelled over the music.

“This was a great idea,” Piper yelled back. She had a wine spritzer in her hand and despite the way her hips were moving to the music, she was focused entirely on Annabeth. “See? She’s already making her move on the cute redhead.”

Percy winced. “How is a rebound supposed to help her again?”

“It’s not a rebound,” Piper insisted. “It’s letting her get her anger out.”

“And how does that work?”

Piper didn’t move her eyes. There were too many people in the Graces’ living room, too many flashing lights, and Percy knew she didn’t trust college parties. “Annabeth broke up with Thalia because Thalia was dragging her feet in their relationship, right?”

“Right,” Percy agreed. It had been a nasty breakup and Percy had been there when Annabeth’s walls had crumbled and Thalia’s had gone up.

“And how Thalia didn’t seem to care, right?”

“Right.”

“So even though Annabeth doesn’t want to get back together with Thalia, just knowing that Thalia’s hurting as much as she is can give her a little closure.”

“And the only way to assure Thalia’s feeling something is if Annabeth fucks someone?”

“In her house,” Piper agreed.

“Damn,” Percy said.

They both took a sip of their drinks.

Annabeth made a move on the redheaded girl. Her name was Rachel. Percy remembered her from his intro art class he’d been required to take and he had to admit Annabeth had made a good choice. Rachel was intense, but also intensely hot. Even now Percy found his eyes sliding along the freckles that dotted her collarbone and shoulders, set free by the straps of a black Frida Kahlo tank top. He watched as Annabeth said something and gestured to Rachel’s hair before tucking a loose, red strand behind her ear.

Rachel looked startled, then flattered.

“That was the gayest thing I’ve ever seen,” Piper said beside him.

Percy added, “It’ll definitely end well, that’s for sure.”

He watched as their conversation continued. Rachel said something and gently tugged on the hem of Annabeth’s shirt. Piper took a heavy swig of her drink. Percy couldn’t blame her.

When Rachel took Annabeth’s hand and began to lead her upstairs, Annabeth turned to them with a fire in her eyes. She gave them a thumbs-up.

Percy and Piper each gave her one back.

And then Percy blinked, feeling strangely watched.

He turned his head, expecting to see Thalia’s Medusa-stare pinning him down, but instead, he caught the eyes of a very familiar frat brother in the heart of the hallway toward the kitchen.

Percy nearly choked on his beer.

It was Jason Grace.

Jason Grace with his eyes the color of Montauk waters. Jason Grace with his corn-silk blond hair. Jason Grace with his smooth, tanned skin that came from playing Lacrosse outside for hours (not that Percy watched). Jason Grace with his broad shoulders and tapered waist.

Jason Grace who casually moved his eyes away from him as if he hadn’t been staring.

Percy took a deliberate sip of his beer.

Swallowed.

And then forcibly turned his eyes away.

It may not have been High School anymore, but there was absolutely no way Jason Grace – captain of the lacrosse team, head of Phi Beta Alpha, and legacy of Jupiter University’s founder – was checking him out. There were leagues people were in and then there were impossibilities. Jason was an impossibility.

Percy chewed at his lip. Then he turned his back fully on the group of guys by the hallway in order to keep himself from getting his dumb hopes up. The odds were more likely that Jason had been looking at Piper and Percy had just been in the way. And even if that was the case, Percy wasn’t going to let a frat boy come near one of his best friends.

“What’s with you?” Piper asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Nothing,” Percy said. He took a sip of his beer. It was beginning to taste a little flat.

Piper leaned over his shoulder to see what he’d turned away from. She gave him a knowing glance. “Not in the mood for dick tonight?”

“That’s not it,” Percy muttered into his cup.

“There’s a hot guy looking at your ass.” She smacked his chest, grinning. “Told you those jeans were a good investment.”

“He isn’t looking at me,” Percy said, feeling his ears go red. Was he?

“Whatever you say, kelp boy,” said Piper. “But he’s coming over here.”

Percy nearly fell against the wall. “What?”

“I said he’s coming over here.”

Percy swallowed hard and did his best to look casual, indifferent, nonchalant as a hand gently touched his shoulder.

As a warm voice calmly said, “Hey.”

Percy turned.

Piper hadn’t been lying. It  _was_  a hot guy.

But it wasn’t Jason Grace.

Disappointment flooded Percy’s system so fast he nearly drowned in it.

“My friend over there thinks you’re, like, really cute,” the guy said. He had a pair of sunglasses in his dark hair with the word ‘SWAG’ written across them. He was carrying a red, plastic cup with something that looked like Koolaid sloshing around in it. “He wants to know if he could get your number or something.”

Percy frowned. “Your friend?” And then followed the guy’s gesture toward the group of guys crowding the hallway, the same group Percy had turned his back on. Jason Grace was staring at him again, his perfect lower lip held between two perfect teeth. One of his friends punched him in his shoulder and briefly their eye-contact was broken for Jason to share in a laugh.

Suddenly, Percy was 14 again, hiding his too-lanky body in a too-large sweatshirt, his face riddled with acne. He was at a lunch table, picking at a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because his mom’s application for the free lunch program hadn’t gone through yet, but the school had to legally supply him with some kind of food. There was a tap on his shoulder.

Percy had looked up. It had been Travis Stoll, one of the kids from the track team. He was grinning and leaning on the lunch table like he owned it. “Hey, man,” he said. “I don’t mean to bother you or anything, but one of my bros thinks you’re really cute.” He tossed a look over his shoulder and Percy caught the eye of the track team’s captain, Luke Castellan.

Percy’s biggest crush.

But as soon as Percy opened his mouth, just a little bit in awe, the entire track table erupted into laughter. Percy felt his heart rise up into his throat.

“He wants to know,” Travis said, now shaking with his own laughter. “If he can get your number.”

Reality swallowed him, but a wave of humiliation and rage gripped him as if he were still at that lunch table. Percy felt his face scrunch into a glower and he turned his eyes fiercely to the guy with the red cup. “Fuck off,” he spat.

The guy seemed genuinely taken aback. “Hey, man,” he said, raising his hands, “no need to be rude. You coulda just say 'no, thanks.'”

“No, thanks,” Percy snarled. “And you can tell your friends that if they think they can mess with me, they’re dead fucking wrong.”

The guy’s hands went even higher and this time he seemed confused. “Alright, dude, alright,” he said. “We’ll leave you alone.”

Percy watched as he returned to the group of guys with the news, but he didn’t stop to watch Jason’s face. “I think I’m gonna go,” he said to Piper.

Piper looked bemused. “I’ll say,” she said. “What the hell was that?”

Percy shook his head and downed the last of his beer. “I’ll go get Leo so you’re not here by yourself.”

“And what about you?” Piper asked. “You’re just going to walk all the way across campus by  _your_ self?”

“I’ll be fine,” Percy said. He raised his hand for a fist-bump. “I’ll see you later. Make sure Annabeth gets home safe.”

“Absolutely,” Piper agreed and tapped his fist with her own. “You too. Text me when you get to the dorm so I know you weren’t murdered.”

Percy gave  her a salute before making his way to the door, sliding between people like a fish in a crowded tank. He wasn’t even a little buzzed, a fact that irritated him perhaps even more than the frat brothers, but he tried not to think too much on it.

The air was cool and damp from previous rain as he pushed the door open and came out onto the steps. It felt good on his face and he let himself breathe it in for a couple of moments. But just as he thought he’d relaxed enough, just as he began down the steps, there was the sound of the door opening and a voice calling out, “Wait!”

Percy stopped and turned, expecting one of the guys from his classes or maybe even Frank.

Instead, Jason Grace stood just outside the door, his figure illuminated by the porch light like some kind of college god. His face had changed from its stoic perfection to allow his eyebrows to come together, distressed, and his mouth was turned down in a frown. A Greek statue of anguish.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jason said and Percy actually had to look behind him to make sure he was the intended listener.

“Then you shouldn’t treat people like they’re a joke,” Percy snapped back.

“It wasn’t a joke,” Jason insisted. He came down a couple of steps. They were almost the same height. He smelled like teakwood and sweat. “I didn’t want you to leave thinking it was.”

Percy scowled, not believing it for a second. “Sure, okay.”

“No, really,” Jason said. His face was earnest. “The guys were only laughing because they thought it was funny I was too shy to talk to you. I don’t know what Dakota said, but I wasn’t asking you out to piss you off.”

Percy stared at him. And for a second he let himself see beyond the titles. He saw Jason, not Jason Grace – his scarred upper lip, his hands twisting around beaded bracelet on his wrist, his eyes soft and pleading. Damn, he was cute.

“Why would you ask  _me_ out?” Percy asked. “Not to be insecure, but you don’t even know me.”

Jason let out an unattractive sound. “I actually– I know we’ve never spoken, but I do know you.”

Percy frowned. “We’ve never had a class together?”

Jason ran a hand through his hair. “Freshman year my sister gave you bass lessons.” He tugged on the locks. “And sometimes I see you surfing along the beach.”

Percy blinked. “You… Holy shit, you have a  _crush_  on me? You weren’t  _checking me out_ , you have a  _crush_  on me.”

“I–” Jason’s face was red.

“I was a _mess_  Freshman year.” Percy had begun moving and flailing his arms. “Oh my god, you aren’t kidding?”

“No,” Jason said.

“But you’re… But – No, man. No way.”

Jason visibly deflated.

Percy pushed his fingers into his curls, feeling like the world was collapsing. “You’re serious?”

“Why do you keep asking that?” Jason asked.

“Because you’re  _Jason Grace.”_

“So? My sister is Thalia Grace.”

“That’s different. Thalia is Thalia. You’re… You’re like the president.”

Jason looked horribly insulted.

“No, I mean, like. You’re Prince Charming. You like girls like Silena Beauregard. Not guys like me.”

Jason frowned. “When did I date Silena?”

“Never, but…”

“Are you honestly trying to put words in my mouth and tell me I’m someone I’m not?”

Percy stopped.

Jason was right.

“You like me,” Percy said.

Jason nodded. He wasn’t fidgeting anymore. His shoulders were rolled back, prepared for impact. “Dakota asked you for your number,” he said, “because I genuinely wanted your number. Not because I’m some jerk. Not because I need to feel better about myself or something. I just…”

Percy took a step forward, burying his hands in his pockets. “Sorry for being an asshole.”

“Sorry for making you think I was an asshole,” Jason added.

Percy studied him. Jason was remarkably beautiful, sure, but the more Percy stared the more the pedestals were removed until Jason was just another awkward guy on a sidewalk.

“So,” Percy said, “what now? You want me to kiss you or something?”

It wasn’t the right thing to say, but something in the low of Percy’s gut liked the way it made Jason squirm.

“Actually,” Jason said and his hesitancy was refreshingly humanizing. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

“A walk,” said Percy.

Jason shrugged. His jaw ticked.

“Yeah,” Percy said. “Fucking terrifying walking across campus at night anyway.”

Jason smiled, something small and genuine. Percy smiled back.

And if at some point while they walked their hands slowly found each other under the street lights, then who would care? No one was watching but the two of them.


End file.
